Environmental Defenders

In Oaxaca, southern Mexico, communities are organizing to resist the large-scale private extraction of sand and gravel from the Río Grande, which is wiping...

Amid industrial pressure and legal rollbacks, a grassroots women's network fights for ancestral marine rights and cultural survival in Chile. ‘If they take the sea...

In March 2025, the rivers of Esmeraldas, an Ecuadorian province that for decades has suffered from the social and environmental impacts of the petrochemical industry, were heavily polluted by a 25,000-barrel crude oil spill. Afro-descendant communities, environmental defenders organized in solidarity networks, and local universities continue agitating the murky waters of a disaster the country would prefer had sunk into oblivion.

Bolivia’s Madidi National Park is considered to be the most biodiverse place on planet earth. The Uchupiamonas people, who call the park home, are in a constant battle against forces eager to exploit the protected area for its wildlife, hydroelectric potential, hardwoods, and gold. In the short film Voices for Madidi - Voces por el Madidi, we hear from environmental defenders on the frontlines. The director tells us more.

In the Bolivian highlands, the Indigenous community of Cala Cala is waging a battle to defend the headwaters of its river from mining. What...

In northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, Alto Hospicio has become a dumping ground for the world’s fast fashion waste. Mountains of unsold clothes from Europe, Asia, and North America pile up, creating toxic conditions. A local youth collective, Desierto Vestido, is fighting to expose the crisis, demand accountability, and develop circular solutions.

Drawing inspiration from LAB’s Environmental Defenders series, LAB contributor Leon Elliott has created an interactive tool that traces important developments in the fight for...

Activists – especially women – stand firm in the face of an increasingly hostile regime in El Salvador, as opposition mounts against the new mining law which revokes a seven-year metal mining ban. Theo Bradford speaks to some of the leading female voices speaking out. Photography by Kellys Portillo.

Rangers of all ages come together in Ricaurte, Nariño, to protect their living territory amidst armed conflict, loss of culture, and deforestation. In the Magüí...

Environmental defender Alejandra Parra continues to oppose a waste-to-energy incinerator in the south of Chile, despite rising danger for activists. Lautaro has all the makings...